World Cup 2019: Qualification scenarios for all teams for the remaining 3 semifinal spots

Going into World Cup 2019, England were considered the overwhelming favorites, followed by India. Australia meanwhile were peaking at the right time, winning 8 consecutive away games just before the World Cup.

Pakistan on the other hand had lost 10 consecutive games, Sri Lanka were not in a great state, the likes of Bangladesh and West Indies had outside chances and South Africa and New Zealand were considered to be dark horses.

Cometh the World Cup, England, India and Australia started off brilliantly as expected, but England suffered an unlikely loss against Pakistan. That was followed by a couple of wins before the biggest upset happened in the tournament: Sri Lanka defeated England by 20 runs.

That result not only helped Sri Lanka stay alive in the competition, but also left England in a spot of bother and opened the doors for three other teams (Pakistan, Bangladesh and West Indies).

England had to win two of their remaining three games to guarantee qualification. The opponents were Australia, India and New Zealand, whom England last beat in a World Cup game in 1992, 1992 and 1983 respectively.

As anticipated, the going got tough for the hosts as they faced consecutive losses for the first time since January 2017. Australia, written off by many six months ago as they lost 11 out of 13 games last year, became the first team to qualify for the semifinals by beating England.

As the three spots remain to be grabbed, we look at the qualification scenarios for the other teams:

India (Played 5, Points 9, NRR +0.809)

* Win 2 games and qualify.

* Win 1 game and hope for England and Sri Lanka lose at least 1 game each and for Pakistan and Bangladesh to have poor net run rate if they win all their games.

New Zealand (Played 6, Points 11, NRR +1.306)

* Win 1 game and qualify.

* Lose all games and hope for England and Sri Lanka to lose at least 1 game and Pakistan and Bangladesh to have poor net run rate if they win all their games.

England (Played 7, Points 8, NRR +1.051)

* Win both games and qualify.

* Win 1 game and hope Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh lose at least 1 game.

* Lose all games and hope Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and West Indies lose 2 games each.

Bangladesh (Played 7, Points 7, NRR -0.133)

* Win both games and hope England and Sri Lanka lose at least 1 game.

* Win 1 game and hope England and Sri Lanka lose 2 games each and Pakistan and West Indies lose 1 game each.

Sri Lanka (Played 6, Points 6, NRR -1.119)

* Win all 3 games and hope for England to lose at least 1 game or qualify without depending on other results by winning all games with very high run rate.

* Win 2 games and hope for England to lose 2 games and for Pakistan and Bangladesh to lose 1 game each.

* Lose all games and hope England lose 2 games by huge margins, Bangladesh and Pakistan lose 2 games each and West Indies lose 1 game.

Pakistan (Played 6, Points 5, NRR -1.265)

* Win all 3 games and hope for England to lose 1 game.

* Win 2 games and hope England and Sri Lanka lose 2 games each, Bangladesh lose 1 by good margin and West Indies lose 1 game.

West Indies (Played 6, Points 3, NRR +0.190)

* Win all 3 games and hope for England and Sri Lanka to lose 2 games each and for Pakistan and Bangladesh to lose 1 game each.

South Africa and Afghanistan are the only two teams to have no chance of qualifying for the semifinals.

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